<Lightly Edited Video Transcript>
Hey guys, what’s up, hope you guys are having an awesome Tuesday, I’m just chilling out here, Kali is down on the ground right here, hanging out with me by the pool. But you know what the problem is, I want to right into this because I want to keep this video kind of short. Here’s what is missing in our children’s lives these days and it’s something that I feel really strongly about and it just bothers me – and this is coming from someone who was an educator for 10 years herself, with a master’s degree in special education, dual certification, retired from that and has spent the past four years building a health and wellness business from home with a huge part of that being in terms of motivation and having a growth mindset. So here is what is really missing in our children’s lives these days and it really bothers me but we can change this guys! And it starts with one parent at a time!
We are so focused on the academics – it drives me crazy. How well the kids are doing in school in terms of taking a test, if they are getting A’s, if they are getting B’s, and we are jamming this stuff down their throat from the very beginning from Kindergarten on and it’s really upsetting because very little attention is put towards the children’s growth in terms of their mindset, having a positive mental attitude and in terms of how they view the world and themselves. It’s not the teacher’s fault – but this is how it is today!
So what can we do about this? Well, it starts with you and me working every single day to try to teach our children how to have that growth mindset and that positive mental attitude!
This is something you can start right now. It doesn’t matter if you are broken, it doesn’t matter if you had a crappy upbringing. It doesn’t matter how your parents raised you. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you are doing today, the failures you have had in life, none of that matters. You can literally start this today. None of that stuff matters in the past – what matters is today and what you do about it now going forward every single day and making a conscious effort to focus on this with your own children at home as much as you can!
We have to set them up to be successful – they are going to be going out in the future one day and we don’t want kids that just know how to take a test and they know how to study and get good grades. It’s your children’s mindset and their outlook on life that will be way more important and will carry them way further in life than whether or not they get straight A’s or pass the darn test.
What really matters is what they believe in their minds and how they apply it to their lives. We need to teach them things like – kindness, how to be a good person. Ethics. Perseverance. Patience. We have to stop with the instant gratification. We have to teach them that things take time.
We need to teach that it’s OK if they fail! It’s OK if they don’t get it right. If they want to be the best at something, or even just get better at something, instead of getting discouraged with a setback and saying “I quit, I’m done with this, I’m not doing this anymore”, we need to teach them if they want to be the best at something in some area in their life – then they need to work harder at that area and persist.
We can’t be afraid to teach our kids that if they want something in life, or they want to be really good at something, that they have to be persistent and work hard at it. They can’t be giver-uppers; and I’m using that term because these are things that my husband and I have applied (and we are not perfect by any means! It’s a work in progress – it takes daily conscious effort of thinking about how to apply this to our children).
(Kali our rescue knocks over camera going for the Kong … real life 🙂 )
We need to teach them that it’s OK to work hard at things! Things aren’t going to come easily. If we can teach this in one small area it applies everywhere.
For example my daughter playing basketball – She will stand in front of that basketball hoop and she will shoot, and shoot, and she won’t even come close to getting it in. But we keep telling her – it’s OK, keep at it, keep practicing, bend your knees, jump higher, use more energy behind the throw. You will get it if you keep trying. You have to keep practicing!
And now – her and my son both repeat these things that we have been teaching our kids for the past 4 years.
It’s awesome to hear them say – “We are not giver uppers”! and “I can DO this!”. And they are applying this now in areas of their lives!
So think about how you can take little snippet – one thing – from this video that you can apply to your family to help your children have that mindset. Look at how they are spending their time at home. Look at the things they are attempting to do.
What is their initial reaction to failure? What do they say out loud? Are they discouraged or anxious? Do they get upset? How can this help them?
Focus on the mindset – the growth – the positive mental attitude – that we can teach our children to have which will carry them through their entire lives.
If you think this video is helpful, please share it! We need to teach this and spread it to as many families as possible! Let’s work together to really try and teach and install positive mental attitudes into our children into our children’s lives so they can have the best future possible – not just academic wise, but what goes on in their minds.
Hope you have an awesome Tuesday and thanks for listening!
